By: ithamore

On: May 17th, 2013

If you like tactical games and free PvP, then you might get as addicted to the Banner Saga: Factions as I have (Factions’ Steam page). It’s much like playing a timed chess game with a greater depth of variety in terms of strategy, which is provided the fantasy elements of the game and its unique battle mechanics.

I didn’t know about it, as I live in isolation (read: working long hours) – to thanks! TIG Source is one of the few sites I browse at work.

david davidson

Count me in among the people who heard it here first

Moczan

The trailer/screenshots looks promising, I hope the gameplay is good and the game is not pay2win (since it’s f2p I assume?).

Mittens

I think I saw this on kick-starter a while ago but this was the first I’d heard it was out on steam and free to play now! I gave it a go, despite a text heavy and totally linear tutorial the real PvP gameplay is very strong, this game is quickly becoming a favorite!

http://www.keithburgun.net/ Keith Burgun

Very cool game, fantastic art. However, people should be aware that UNLIKE chess, there’s a significant amount of “output randomness” in this game. So, you might play better, and still lose because random noise came into the game and altered the outcome of your decisions. Not everyone minds that for some strange reason, but people should be aware either way.

ithamore

It’s a good thing it’s still in beta.

http://www.facebook.com/nemodreamer Philip Featherstone Blyth

They’re still working on the full single/multi-player game. The F2P multiplayer-only “Factions” currently pays their bills.

I can attest that it is NOT pay-to-win. You get matched w/ players w/ identical make-ups as you, so you never feel outmatched.

http://www.facebook.com/nemodreamer Philip Featherstone Blyth

Hey Keith,
the lack of “crit” chance and probabilities in the majority of situations, really DO make it like chess: they wanted to make a game where “if you win, it was because you played better”

They introduce hit/miss probability ONLY when you are using a character whose health is lower than it’s target’s armour. Meaning that it encourages you to avoid those situations and strategize so that you don’t get into that situation in the first place.

But i see your point.

Argle Blargle

Usually when people say a game has a greater depth of strategy than chess, it’s because they don’t appreciate the depth of strategy in chess.

Graham Luke

This is always true.

Bears

Chess is mostly metagame. The game alone isn’t particularly strategic. Besides, the reviews says “greater depth of variety”, not “greater depth of strategy”.

http://www.AncientBeast.com/ Dread Knight

I agree. Keep an eye on my free game project AncientBeast.com – still rather early and rough around the edges but it certainly pulls off quite a few advantages over chess.

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